Opportunities for Florida from Florida Solar Energy Center on Vimeo.

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Fuel price reduction by energy-efficient vehicles, oil drilling, speed limits, or ethanol?

Over the past few months, high oil and gasoline prices have had pundits and politicians flailing away about what we should do.  On the one hand, some believe the United States is sitting on countless oil deposits, and the quickest, best solution is to poke holes in the ground and watch gas prices fall. On the other hand, weathered industry professionals, such as retired oil baron, T. Boone Pickens, realize an immediate need for independence from oil, whether domestic or foreign.  In Pickens’ recently purchased TV spots, he clearly states that “we can’t drill our way out of this emergency,” and in a recent interview with CNN’s Lou Dobbs he said America should utilize its cleaner, cheaper, abundant resources, such as natural gas, wind and solar power.

The U.S. consumes about 21 million barrels of oil per day (mbd) – roughly 25 percent of total world oil production.  We import almost two-thirds of what we use (14 mbd ) from foreign countries.  The cost of these imports is approaching $2 billion per day ($700 billion per year at $136 per barrel).  This is a significant drain, both on the finances of individual households and on our national economic security.

What are the near term (three to five-year) options?

For the drilling ideologues the answer is simple:  drill, drill, drill.  Supply and demand laws say that drilling will increase oil supply to the point that prices will fall.  However, this assumes that we can actually produce significantly more oil.  Yet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), we produced almost 8.3 mbd in 1996, but only a little more than 6.7 mbd in 2006.  Domestic crude oil production dropped by 0.15 mbd each year during this 10-year period, even though oil prices were rising.

This decline in domestic oil production was caused by “oil field depletion.”  The fact is U.S. domestic oil production peaked in 1973 and has been in decline ever since.  And we can also reasonably expect existing domestic oil production to decline by at least 0.15 mbd per year, or by about 0.75 mbd over the next five years.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy provides estimates for new oil production rates.  In a 2006 study, they determined that on the three to five year horizon, “new” oil could provide about 0.80 mbd, just slightly more than we should expect existing fields to decline.  Based on these data, just staying even with today’s production rate will require new drilling, but there will be no net increase in domestic oil supplies as a result.

Throughout the years, there have been a number of proposals to relieve high gas prices and America’s dependency on foreign oil.  In the 1970’s, a national 55 mile-per-hour speed limit was imposed to increase our fuel efficiency, and decrease drivers’ trips to the pump.  Evaluation studies commissioned by Congress in the late 80’s showed that this resulted in a little less than two percent motor fuel savings.  Today, the savings from a 55 mph speed limit would be about 0.27 mbd.

The latest craze in alternative fuels is ethanol. The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of ethanol.  In 2002, the U.S. produced about 2.7 trillion gallons of ethanol. By 2007, that figure had increased by 100 percent, reaching 5.3 trillion gallons.  Total U.S. annual ethanol production translates to about 0.26 mbd of oil equivalent.  Just producing enough ethanol to run all our vehicles on E10 fuels (10 percent ethanol by volume) would require a four-fold increase in current cropland dedicated to ethanol feedstock production.

Another potential solution to high fuel prices that is proposed year after year is increased Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards.  CAFE standards, or average miles per gallon (mpg) of U.S. vehicle manufacturers’ fleets, were introduced in the 1980’s to combat high oil and gasoline prices.  Our penchant for SUVs in America, combined with a “light truck loophole” in the regulations, has led to average passenger fleet efficiency of about 20 mpg.  Increasing this efficiency by just five miles per gallon would net almost two million barrels per day in oil savings. That’s almost 10 times as much oil savings as we could get from a 55 mph speed limit and 10 times as much as our total current U.S. ethanol production. Imagine how much oil we could save if there was widespread use of ultra-efficient cars like the plug-in hybrid, which can obtain around 100 mpg.  We could practically quit importing oil and keep those billions of dollars circulating in our own economy.

In comparing oil in Million Barrels per Day (mbd), increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles would reduce our consumption of oil by two million barrels per day.

As California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said during his speech at Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s recent Global Climate Change Summit, “America did not become addicted to oil overnight, and we won’t break free overnight either.”  Using more ethanol and increasing domestic drilling cannot provide the short-term results and quick relief at the gas pumps Americans are looking for right now.

The best short-term solution is to purchase less transportation fuel by making thoughtful new vehicle purchases and providing regular maintenance for existing vehicles. Governor Crist regularly mentions in his speeches that simply maintaining the correct vehicle tire pressure could lower personal fuel use by up to four percent.  He makes his point by asking us to think about how much more effort it takes to peddle a bike with flat tires than one with properly inflated tires.

It’s time for us to take this oil “emergency” into our own hands by choosing to make more fuel-efficient decisions. You can find additional information on how to be more fuel-efficient with your vehicle on our Web site.

James Fenton,
Director, Florida Solar Energy Center

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Romania was chosen as the site for this workshop because of its potential for success in the nanoscience
field – the study of materials on a molecular or atomic scale – and UCF has had an ongoing interest in international collaborations, especially with Romania.

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Romania.

As a new member of the European Union, Romania committed at least one percent of its gross domestic product to scientific research and development, and has pursued an aggressive campaign to equip its economy and workforce for new opportunities in the technology industry. This workshop, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), will pave the way for Romania to leverage its existing expertise in medicine, physics, and chemistry as the country builds upon its scientific structure.

Romania has formed many operational research centers that have modern equipment, most notably the Center for Applied Research in Physics and Advanced Technologies (CARPATH). During this workshop, the UCF research teams will work with CARPATH to gain information on a group of projects being pursued by the NSTC and FSEC that require competency in computational modeling that only CARPATH can provide. In return, UCF’s NSTC and FSEC will utilize their strong experimental capabilities to explore the effectiveness of CARPATH’s computational platform for modeling existing experimental changes during this workshop.

Keynote speakers for this workshop include Dr. Mihail C. Roco, chair of the National Science and Technology Council’s subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET) and Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology at the NSF, as well as Dr. Gheorghe Popa, the former president of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iasi in Romania and former State Secretary for research at Romania’s Ministry of Education and Research.

UCF’s James Hickman, Founding Director of the NSTC, is one of the co-leaders for this workshop in the U.S., while Alexander Stancu, the Director of the Center for Applied Research in Physics and Advanced Technologies (CARPATH), will coordinate this collaboration in Romania. Hickman will receive assistance coordinating the workshop from Jeff Anderson, Associate Director of the NSTC, and two Romanian nationals of the UCF faculty Dan Marinescu, a professor and prominent researcher, and Nicoleta Sorloaica-Hickman, an assistant professor at FSEC with a joint appointment at NSTC and former student of Stancu.

“At FSEC, we need to utilize more opportunities for collaboration with other UCF professors,” said Sorloaica-Hickman. “They are an excellent resource, and this workshop will provide an opportunity to establish and nurture more professional relationships between the two institutions.”

There have been a number of interactions between UCF and Romanian-based research groups. UCF professors Hickman and Sorloaica-Hickman traveled to Romania in 2006, 2007, and 2008, making scientific presentations at the University of Iasi, University of Bucharest and University of Cluj Napoca – the three largest universities in Romania – and discussing further collaboration between these institutions. University of Iasi professor, Stancu, also visited UCF with some of his Romanian university colleagues in 2007, and each summer since 2007, Romanian undergraduate students have studied at the NSTC and FSEC.

Taking place close to the University of Iasi, the workshop calls for a number of technical presentations, with topics including advanced photovoltaic materials and cell design, organic photovoltaic development, multiscale simulations of material properties, nanotoxicity, and biosensors. Following these presentations, round-table discussions will facilitate the development of joint proposals to be submitted to the U.S. NSF and Romania’s equivalent institution. FSEC researchers participating in this workshop include Solar Energy Division Director Bob Reedy, senior research analyst John Harrison, solar energy research engineer Kris Davis, and assistant professor Sorloaica-Hickman.

This workshop will further develop NSTC and FSEC’s international impact on the research field, as well as provide an opportunity for future funding and projects from major international institutes, such as the NSF Materials World Network and the Global Nanotechnology Network.

“This relationship with and funding from NSF will create new opportunities for basic research at FSEC,” said Sorloaica-Hickman. “Researchers will have the means to conduct more novel research in addition to ramping up current research efforts.”

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From left: FSEC researchers Bill Young and John Harrison, Facilities Manager of the Bucuti Hotel and Resort, FSEC researcher Patrick Robinson, and local PV entrepreneur Robert Mc David.

As part of FSEC’s new eco-tourism initiative, three of the center’s solar energy experts traveled to the island country of Aruba in March to conduct workshops for the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association (AHATA). AHATA members were interested in learning about using renewable energy technologies to reduce energy consumption and costs at Aruba’s local resorts. FSEC researchers John Harrison, Patrick Robinson and Bill Young provided support to the association by conducting customized educational courses and making recommendations for implementation of solar energy technologies throughout Aruba’s resort industry.

“They reached out to us [FSEC] for solar education just as we were putting our feelers out and seeing where we could springboard this initiative,” said Young.

Patrick Robinson inspects integral collector-storage (ICS) solar hot water systems at a resort in Aruba.

Like many Caribbean countries, Aruba lacks conventional energy resources, creating a dependency on imported oil to power the island’s single utility. The island country has great solar and wind energy resources available, but less than a dozen renewable energy applications are being used throughout the island due to government restrictions on the utility, which limit the interconnection of solar systems to the grid. Combined with the country’s imported oil dependency, these restrictions have not helped offset the country’s skyrocketing electricity prices, which have reached 32 cents per kilowatt and higher.

Harrison, Robinson and Young spent three days conducting workshops and evaluating the solar and wind systems currently in use at some of the AHATA’s facilities. Partnering with AHATA, FSEC developed an educational program that provided technical training and consulting for solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) technologies. By modifying some of FSEC’s existing solar energy training courses, the researchers were able to provide the specific education and training required for Aruba’s resort industry professionals to understand the design, operation, installation and maintenance of solar systems.

The main purpose of their visit was to create awareness and understanding among AHATA members regarding the importance of making educated decisions when integrating solar energy into facilities. With more than 30 attendees at each solar thermal and PV workshop, the trip was a success.

FSEC solar energy researcher, Bill Young, talks with one of the workshop attendees in Aruba. During his stay, Young also visited a local school to give a presentation on solar and renewable energy.

Harrison, Robinson and Young recommended the development of a plan between the government, utility and consumers that would reduce or eliminate the current restrictions that are keeping Aruba’s renewable energy resources untapped. Working together with local colleges on the island could also provide a source of education for potential solar and wind technicians, code officials and sales personnel on the island, enabling renewable industry growth. With this potential growth would come the need to develop standards and practices to assure high quality solar energy technology implementation.

FSEC’s researchers plan to expand this eco-tourism program by continuing to work with AHATA and the Caribbean Solar Energy Society, as well as participating in the upcoming International Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference in October.

“Renewable energy is tomorrow’s power source,” said Young. “To see an entire industry become so focused on environmental stewardship and using renewable energy is really a sign of good things to come. We hope more industries will see this change and follow suit.”

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